Journalism
Doug has reported from five continents, from Tajikistan to Rwanda, Laos to Guatemala, Alaska to Kilimanjaro.
His goal, from a young age, has been reducing the percentage in the Wailer’s lyric that asserts, “Half the story has never been told.” And no matter the topic, doing it with humor.
Here’s a sampling of the stories.
NPR Features
Doug Kayaks With A Humpback Whale: One of Doug’s favorite radio pieces, when a solitary kayak paddle turned into communion with a mammalian cousin. A large one. Listen for the blowhole exhalation.
Bear On the Race Course: Doug Runs the Yukon Wilderness Marathon: In one NPR piece from the Yukon Territory, Doug a) Runs in a wilderness team marathon that includes bear on the trail, b) Documents it for an national public radio feature, c) Comes in second, and d) Does it all a few days after an appendectomy.
Doug Fine, Astronaut?: An NPR investigation.
Sign of the Season: Sandhill Crane Migration: One of Doug’s most popular radio pieces, as tens of thousands of cranes serenade him in a remote corner of New Mexico.
International Glacial Bike Race: Doug bikes in an international relay race from Canada to Alaska,
Audio Postcard: Bears, Humans Learn to Get Along
Audio Postcard: Glacier Caving in Alaska
Sleuthing for Rock Art in New Mexico
The Height of the Hatch Green Chile Season
Commentary: An Alaskan Visits the Lower 48
Audio Postcard: Rafting Cataract Canyon
Saving Ranchland from Suburban Sprawl
Doug Fine's first book, Not Really an Alaskan Mountain Man' The NPR interview.
Keeping Digital Age Comforts With Much Less Petroleum: Doug Fine Documents his Personal Quest For Fossil Fuel Independence.
Print Journalism
Starting when Doug was an unknown in his 20s, a time when most everyone was telling him to get a real job, he called himself a journalist and set sail for places that interested him, usually for cultural, environmental, or scenic reasons (OK, sometimes culinary). It’s a small planet, he discovered, and one can get anywhere from anywhere with a little help from one’s friends, such as the Icelndic Red Cross worker who got Doug into war-torn Tajikistan for his first international radio piece. Here are a few more recent pieces.
ATTACK OF THE TOMATO KILLERS — Essay In the New York Times Magazine
Never one to let a Biblical Hailstorm go un-tax-deducted, Doug’s essay about the then-latest Climate Change-induced carnage on the Funky Butte Ranch appeared in the New York Times Magazine. Fresh from writing his bestseller Farewell, My Subaru, he was at the time getting the munchies from the waste vegetable oil exhaust of his Ford truck, which he still drives.
IN THE YEAR 2049: WOULD I SURVIVE A WORST-CASE SCENARIO? A Former Suburbanite Plans For Post-Globalization — Essay in The Washington Post
Ever wonder what would happen if you popped into the Quickie Mart for a quart of juice and some batteries and found the shelves were empty…permanently? Doug does, An essay he wrote on this issue, which Ipartly explains the Digital Age Carbon-Neutral life he’s attempting on his Funky Butte Ranch, ran in the Post’s Sunday Outlook section.
Profile of Doug in Smithsonian Magazine
Public radio reporter and author Doug Fine bought a 4e-acre ranch in remote corner of New Mexico to live off the land – and off the grid. In his book, Farewell, My Subaru, he details raising his own food, cutting his dependence on fossil fuels and still managing not to “die in a way that would cause embarrassment if the obituary writer did his or her research.”
Excerpt from Doug’s American Hemp Farmer in Bioneers
Doug’s Climate Change wake-up call came when a climate refugee bear attacked his goats in front of his family in 2013. Read the full excerpt here.